Nowadays, electronic devices such as mobile phones are widely used and bring convenience to our lives, as such, electronic devices have become a part of modern life. Every electronic device has a chip card such as a SIM (subscriber identification module) card for carrying information necessary for operating the mobile phone. The chip card may also contain personal information for the subscriber, for example, a listing of frequently used telephone numbers. However, it is necessary to provide a chip card retaining mechanism to hold the chip card in the electronic device.
Referring to FIG. 6, a typical chip card retaining mechanism used in a mobile phone is as follows. The chip card retaining mechanism includes a mounting base 52 and a locking element 54. A receiving groove 520 is defined in the mounting base 52 for receiving a chip card. A connector 50 is disposed in the receiving groove 520. The locking element 54 is mounted on the mounting base 52 and located adjacent to the receiving groove 520. The locking element 54 can move in a direction shown by an arrow. In assembly, the locking element 54 is pushed away from the receiving groove 520 to completely expose the receiving groove 520. A SIM card is received in the receiving groove 520, and the locking element 54 is pushed toward the receiving groove 520 to cover a portion of the receiving groove 520 so that the SIM card cannot be removed from the receiving groove 520.
Although the locking element 54 can be easily moved to assembly the SIM card. However, when a mobile phone inadvertently falls to a ground, an impact which results from an outer force can make the locking element 54 remove from the receiving groove 520, which results in an ineffective electrical connection between the SIM card and the connector 50. At worst, the SIM card may become separated from the receiving groove 520, which badly affects a stability of the mobile phone.
What is needed, therefore, is a chip card retaining mechanism which overcomes the above-described shortcomings.